The invention relates to an apparatus having an elastic portion allowing the apparatus to fit a wide range of sizes. More particularly, the invention relates to securing the elastic portion to an inelastic portion of the apparatus.
Many items that are intended to fit on objects of different sizes use elastic to achieve that feat. For example, a headband that is meant to fit many different head sizes may be formed, at least partially, from an elastic material to enable the headband to automatically adjust to different size heads. One property of an elastic material is that it takes an increasing amount of force to stretch the elastic material an increased distance. To maximize wearer comfort and fit for wearers having very different size heads, some headbands include elastic around the entire circumference of the headband such that the headband stretches evenly and exerts even pressure on wearers having different head sizes. However, as the wearer puts the headband on, the circumference of the headband shrinks in the area of the headband in contact with the wearer's hair causing pulling and bunching of the wearer's hair. To prevent pulling and bunching of the wearer's hair, some headbands are formed from a length of inelastic material (e.g., fabric) intended to contact the wearer's hair and a length of elastic material intended to contact the back of the wearer's head. The ends of the inelastic material are attached to the ends of the elastic material to form the headband. This type of headband thus has a limited length of elastic material which will cause the headband to be looser on smaller heads and tighter on larger heads than a headband including elastic material about the entire circumference of the headband. Thus, while the headband can be used on different head sizes, it may be loose and fall off of smaller heads while being tight and uncomfortable on larger heads.
Elastic materials and bands formed partially of elastic material are used in other applications to achieve universal fit. For example, partial elastic materials are used in waistbands, shirt collars, hat sweatbands, masks, and eye patches.